觉醒：The Awakening（英文朗读版）

　　Kate Chopin （1850-1904） was an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is now considered by some scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th-century feminist authors of Southern or Catholic background， such as Zelda Fitzgerald.　The Awakening was first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century. It is widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism， generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics.The novel's blend of realistic narrative， incisive social commentary， and psychological complexity makes The Awakening a precursor of American modernist literature; it prefigures the works of American novelists such as William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway and echoes the works of contemporaries such as Edith Wharton and Henry James.Chopin did not write another novel after The Awakening and had difficulty publishing stories after its release. When she died five years later， she was on her way to being forgotten. In 1960s Per Seyersted， a Norwegian literary scholar rediscovered Chopin， leading The Awakening to be remembered as the feminist fiction it is today.

　　凯特·肖邦，美国女作家，本名凯萨琳·欧福拉赫蒂，出生于美国圣路易斯。肖邦在快四十岁时出版了第一本小说《故障》（At Fault 1890）。她的短篇小说开始出现在世纪（Century）和哈泼杂志（Harper's Magazine）。随后又出版了两个选集：《支流人》（Bayou Folk 1894）和《阿卡迪一夜》（A Night in Arcadie 1897）。《觉醒》（The Awakening 1899）是其代表作，但由于小说以对通奸同情的笔调刻画女主人公"性意识"的觉醒，大胆表露追求婚外情的爱情观，小说一出版便在美国文坛上引起了轩然大波，震惊了全美的书评人和读者。